Wellington Phoenix have signed a defender with UEFA Champions League experience after the arrival of Canada international centre-back Manjrekar James.
James is Wellington’s fifth and final visa signing after moving to the Phoenix for the Isuzu UTE A-League 2025-26 season, joining Nigerian striker Ifeanyi Eze, Nigerian goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi and Japanese pair Hideki Ishige and Kazuki Nagasawa as the club’s foreigners.
Giancarlo ‘Chiefy’ Italiano’s Phoenix were eyeing a new centre-back following Scott Wootton’s switch to Perth Glory and he has now bolstered his backline with the towering 32-year-old defender, who most recently played for LD Alajuelense in Costa Rica.
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A 17-time Canada international, James played Champions League football for Danish club Midtjylland in 2020-21, alongside two familiar faces – former Wellington star Bozhidar Kraev (now playing for Western Sydney Wanderers) and Adelaide United product and Socceroo Awer Mabil as they went up against Atalanta, Liverpool and Ajax.
The duo were influential in the defender’s move to New Zealand.
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“When I heard Wellington was interested I messaged my agent really quickly,” James said. “I was very, very excited.
“One of my old teammates at Midtjylland, Bozhidar Kraev, used to play for Wellington so I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Phoenix and the A-League.
“And I also spoke to one of my friends, Awer Mabil (Socceroos forward), and he told me very good things about the A-League so I was very open to the opportunity.”
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A professional for 13 years in Europe, North America and Central America, James has also won trophies in Denmark, Canada and Costa Rica.
Now, he is teaming up with Italiano’s Phoenix, who are eyeing a return to the Isuzu UTE A-League Finals Series.
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“How he wants to play is ideal because that’s exactly how I want to play as well,” he said of Italiano.
“He told me the team wants to be a possession dominating team and I’m a centre-back that wants to keep the ball.
“He also said the team likes to press and keep a high line and that’s something that I really want to do as well so it sounds like a great, great fit for me.”
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James joins Eze, Carlo Armiento and Nikola Mileusnic as Wellington’s new signings this off-season.
“Manjrekar fits the profile of the defender that I’ve been wanting to recruit,” Italiano said.
“He’s aggressive, he’s strong, he’s very good with the ball, he has good experience across a
number of leagues around the world and he’s an international.
“Manjrekar’s got all the attributes I want from a centre-back. He’s very good man-to-man,
very mobile, quick and makes very good decisions in very hard situations.
“He’s also very good in the air and always on the front foot so I think stylistically and in terms of aggression he’ll give us an edge.
“He’s a nice guy as well and I think he’ll fit in really well with the group.”
